Weekend Warm-up: Bayern Munich’s Leon Goretzka is in a conundrum…what should he do?; Throwing it back to Cake; DFB-Pokal Predictions; and MORE!

Bayern Munich midfielder Leon Goretzka is in the most awkward of positions.

The 29-year-old plays for a club he loves and is in a locker room full of players he likes to be around. Unfortunately for Goretzka, the head coach (Vincent Kompany) and club officials (Max Eberl, Christoph Freund) have made the collective decision that Goretzka is no longer in their plans.

Any playing time or opportunities for Goretzka will be limited as Bayern Munich has prioritized moving forward with a midfield trio of Joshua Kimmich, João Palhinha, and Aleksandar Pavlović. That puts Goretzka and his mate, Konrad Laimer, out in the cold. At this stage, it is hard to say who the club’s hierarchy would trust more if needed — Laimer or Goretzka — but what is clear is that is Goretzka is going to have a very hard time getting any minutes at all.

What does a player do in this situation. For Steffen Effenberg, the answer seems pretty clear.

“Palhinha will be set and I see all the other midfielders in front of Goretzka at the moment. He must also recognize that. On the one hand, I always wish that the players accept the fight for the starting place,” Effenberg told Bild. “On the other hand, as a player, you also have to reflect on whether the path to another club might not be the better one — especially with a view to the World Cup in two years, where Goretzka wants to be there.

“It would be a bad decision to stay at Bayern and then only play eight or nine games per half year. He should think about becoming a regular player again. As a player, you sometimes have to make sensible decisions to secure your future. Let’s wait and see how Goretzka will deal with the situation.”

How bad has it gotten for Goretzka? Well, do not expect to see him even sitting on the bench tonight:

It is admirable that Goretzka wants to stay and fight for his position within the team, but — sometimes — the judges have already submitted their cards. Goretzka appears to be willing to fight in a battle that does not exist at the moment.

Should he consider making a last minute move during this transfer window?

Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up Show Season 4, Episode 5

Bayern Munich’s preseason is essentially over (the new friendly vs. Grasshopper Club Zürich notwithstanding) and the team is looking more and more like a finished product.

That said, a lot happened since our last Weekend Warm-up Show, so there was a lot to talk about. This is what we have on tap for this edition of the Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up Show:

• Since we last spoke: Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui officially skipped town for Manchester United, Désiré Doué chose Paris Saint-Germain, Alphonso Davies is in limbo, and Kingsley Coman’s future is up in the air. This is fine.
• Marco Reus is off to MLS and the LA Galaxy. Will Robert Lewandowski join him at some point? Also, some brief thoughts on the steroid topic from this week.
• What can go right and what can wrong for Bayern Munich.
• A brief entertainment rundown and some podcast-related announcements.

Song of the Week: “The Distance” by Cake

It is hard to quantify just how big this song was back in the mid-90s — you really might not even believe it, but it was EVERYWHERE (and you still might hear it today if you are listening in the right places).

There were a lot of unique sounds developing during this era, but Cake had one all to itself. Released in 1996, this was all over alt-radio stations and even some hard rock and pop stations, too, because it was unlike anything else out there.

Cake would go on to carve out a nice niche with its distinct style and garner a pretty great following as well. Enjoy some magic from the 90s:

Entertainment Rundown

I did not start any new shows this week, but I did want to tie up some loose ends on House of the Dragon and also Game of Thrones. Let’s dig in…

House of the Dragon

One of the primary points of hate regarding season two was the meandering pace of the show. One other big point of concern was that the show tended to focus on less interesting characters. Interestingly, X account @westerosies broke down the screen time for each major character:

1. Rhaenyra I Targaryen – 01:44:20

2. Alicent Hightower – 01:09:10

3. Daemon Targaryen – 01:05:10

4. Aegon Il Targaryen – 00:39:00

5. Criston Cole – 00:38:20

6. Jacaerys Velaryon – 00:30:00

7. Aemond Targaryen – 00:27:20

8. Corlys Velaryon – 00:24:40

9. Mysaria – 00:23:20

10. Larys Strong – 00:23:00

11. Baela Targaryen – 00:18:10

12. Otto Hightower – 00:17:30

13. Rhaenys Targaryen – 00:17:30

14. Simon Strong – 00:17:00

15. Helaena Targaryen – 00:15:20

16. Hugh – 00:15:10

17. UIf – 00:15:00

18. Tyland Lannister – 00:14:40

19. Grand Maester Orwyle – 00:12:50

20. Alyn of Hull – 00:11:40

21. Addam of Hull – 00:11:10

22. Alys Rivers – 00:11:00

23. Rhaena Targaryen – 00:09:40

24. Gwayne Hightower – 00:09:40

25. Kat – 00:05:00

26. Cregan Stark – 00:04:10

27. Jason Lannister – 00:01:30

There were not a ton of shockers on this list, but here are a couple of quick takeaways:

• Much of Daemon’s screen time was worthless. He was featured a fair amount, but too much was wasted on dream sequences and hallucinations.
• There was far too little time for Aegon, Aemond, Helaena, Criston Cole, and Larys Strong.
• Mixing up some of the screen time would have helped (it certainly would have changed some of the wasted scenes and slow storylines that were littered throughout the season).

Game of Thrones

Now this…it really caught my eye. Kit Harington, who played Jon Snow, recently touched on what it was like during that fateful final season of Game of Thrones:

Kit Harington on the response and backlash to #GameOfThrones Season 8:

“I think if there was any fault with the end of Thrones, is that we were all so f*cking tired, we couldn’t have gone on longer. And so I understand some people thought it was rushed and I might agree with them. But I’m not sure there was any alternative. I look at pictures of me in that final season and I look exhausted. I look spent. I didn’t have another season in me.”

“Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I think there were mistakes made, story-wise, towards the end maybe. I think there were some interesting choices that didn’t quite work.”

(via: @GQMagazine)

The fatigue that the cast and crew felt is real. Surely, it was a difficult task and a tough lifestyle during that run. However, what really struck me is that even the star of the series knew that the end of the series was not a fitting way to wrap up such a grand tale.

From a story perspective, the No. 1 “interesting choice that did not work” was not having a full-scale battle between The Night King vs. Jon Snow. The entire story was set up for this and the viewers were robbed of it.

From a logistics perspective, having “The Long Night” filmed in almost complete darkness. It absolutely did not work.

There were many other missteps that fans (and probably some of the actors, too, apparently) will probably lament forever. Imagine being on the cusp of being the greatest ever at anything and then petering out so close to the finish line. It has to eat away at many of the folks involved.

(Finds random cliff, peers off into the distance, uses a deep voice to utter, “And so it begins”…)

It’s time!

Bayern Munich will kick off its season the DFB-Pokal vs. SSV Ulm in a match that should — should! — see the Bavarians be considered heavy favorites. In the first real match under Vincent Kompany, Bayern Munich will surely want to get off to a good start and build some momentum for what could be a very difficult campaign.

The top end of the Bundesliga — as a collective — might be better than last season and the Bavarians will have to find a way to ward off the natural growing pains that can occur under a new coach.

That all starts with Friday’s match in the DFB-Pokal against SSV Ulm. Let’s dive into it and get started with our first Bavarian Podcast Works — Preview Show of the season. Here is what we have on tap:

• Where the team stands coming out of the preseason.
• Who you might know on SSV Ulm.
• A look at the latest news on injuries.
• A guess at Vincent Kompany’s lineup.
• A prediction on the match.

Predictions

Bayern Munich’s season starts off in the DFB-Pokal as the Bavarians are seeking to start their quest for a trophy off on the right foot.

New coach Vincent Kompany is armed with a loaded (yet potentially volatile) squad, so man-management will likely be just as important as developing and implementing strategies for each opponent. The team is well-equipped for success — and still could be bolstered further in the final two weeks of the summer transfer window.

As for SSV Ulm, the 2. Bundesliga side will not be a pushover, but Die Spatzen likely just does not have enough to knock off a juggernaut like Bayern Munich right now.

Prediction: SSV Ulm 0-4 Bayern Munich

Bonus Pokal Predictions

• Wehen Wiesbaden 1-2 Mainz 05
• Wurzburger Kickers 0-3 Hoffenheim
• Hallescher 0-4 FC St. Pauli
• Erzgebirge Aue 1-3 Borussia Mönchengladbach
• Schott Mainz 1-4 SpVgg Greuther Fürth
• Villingen 1-5 Heidenheim
• VfR Aalen 1-2 Schalke 04
• FC Ingolstadt 04 2-3 1. FC Kaiserslautern
• VfL Osnabrück 1-4 SC Freiburg
• Essen 1-6 RB Leipzig
• Greifswalder 0-3 FC Union Berlin
• Phönix Lübeck 0-7 Borussia Dortmund
• Alemannia Aachen 3-2 Holstein Kiel
• Arminia Bielefeld 2-1 Hannover 96
• FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin 1-4 FC Augsburg
• 1. FC Saarbrücken 3-2 1. FC Nürnberg
• SV Sandhausen 2-3 1. FC Köln
• FC Hansa Rostock 3-2 Hertha Berlin
• SSV Jahn Regensburg 2-3 VfL Bochum
• FC Teutonia Ottensen 2-1 SV Darmstadt 98
• VfV 06 Hildesheim 1-3 SV Elversberg
• Bremer SV 0-3 SC Paderborn 07
• SG Dynamo Dresden 2-1 Fortuna Düsseldorf
• Sportfreunde Lotte 1-2 Karlsruher SC
• SV Meppen 2-3 Hamburger SV
• Kickers Offenbach 2-4 1. FC Magdeburg1
• TuS Koblenz 0-6 VfL Wolfsburg
• Energie Cottbus 1-3 Werder Bremen
• Eintracht Braunschweig 0-4 Eintracht Frankfurt
• Preußen Münster 1-6 VfB Stuttgart
• Carl Zeiss Jena 0-5 Bayer Leverkusen